Training Citizen Scientists for Turtle Spotting in Baja

Danielle Palm and Abigail Bearce Start Date: Jul 19, 2019 - End Date: Nov 18, 2019
  • Baja California Sur, Mexico
  • San Diego, USA

My Travel Story

by: Danielle Palm and Abigail Bearce Start Date: Jul 19, 2019 - End Date: Nov 18, 2019
We are hopping aboard the Baja Haha, a sailing caravan that travels from SanDiego to Cabo every Fall. Along the way, we will be going between boats, training sailors as citizen scientists for the Sea Turtle Spotter program, which is a way for people to participate in scientific data collection and research. The critical data enables scientists to protect sea turtles by better understanding their movements and habitat use. We will also be hosting educational programs at ports along the sailing route about sea turtles and their environmental- and human-caused threats. Promoting this information to locals and travellers aids tremendously in conscious marine use and turtle conservation. It is also helpful in building a community effort to live and recreate more sustainably in culturally and ecologically unique coastal areas.

We are both recent graduates of the natural sciences from Colorado State University and spent our last winter break studying wildlife in Baja California Sur. We returned for our spring break for an internship with scientist Stephanie Rousso, training citizen scientists in sea turtle identification, ecology, conservation, and data collection. This trip allows us to help Stephanie take a big step forward in her research and promotion of local involvement in ecology and conservation. 

We are fundraising for our plane tickets to San Diego and will be travelling by sails after that.  Thank you so much for your support. 

To learn more about the Sea Turtle Spotter Program please visit the Upwell's Sea Turtle Spotter page! https://www.upwell.org/sea-turtle-spotter
If you would like to learn more about the Baja Haha, please see their main page! https://www.baja-haha.com/
  • Baja California Sur, Mexico
  • San Diego, USA

Updates

7

  • We Did It!

    We’ve officially hit our goal of raising $462! This means we can officially make the trip and spread interest for sea turtle conservation! We are so excited to make this happen and to share our knowledge with the excited people of the sailing community. Thank you to all of our donors who made this happen! You will get to see the video of our efforts! See you soon Pacific Ocean!

  • We Did It!

    We’ve officially hit our goal of raising $462! This means we can officially make the trip and spread interest for sea turtle conservation! We are so excited to make this happen and to share our knowledge with the excited people of the sailing community. Thank you to all of our donors who made this happen! You will get to see the video of our efforts! See you soon Pacific Ocean!